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| 1833 |
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| Death of Ahmad al-Zayyani, Berber statesman and historian. He undertook diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court and engineered government attempts to bring tribes under central authority. His writings include several historical accounts of the Ottoman and Alawi dynasties. | 1 |
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| 1844 |
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| Establishment of the Pariente Bank in Tangier, Morocco's first private business bank. Various foreign banks opened branches in Morocco in subsequent years, although much of the country's international banking activity was carried out through Gibraltar. | 2 |
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| 1844 |
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| Brief war with France. In an attempt to bring an end to Moroccan support for the Algerian rebel leader Abd al-Qadir, who found asylum in Morocco in 1843, a French squadron bombarded Tangier (Aug. 6) and Mogador (Aug. 15) while French ground troops defeated the Moroccan army at Isly (Aug. 14). In the convention of Tangier (Sept. 14) the sultan pledged to outlaw Abd al-Qadir. | 3 |
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| 1845, March 18 |
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| Treaty with France delimiting the Moroccan-Algerian boundary. The frontier remained ill-defined, serving later French policies of expansion into Morocco. | 4 |
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| 1856, Dec. 9 |
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| Treaty and commercial convention with Britain. The agreement, which took four years to negotiate, removed Moroccan trade monopolies and restrictions opposed by British merchants, and regulated various aspects of British-Moroccan relations. | 5 |
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| 1859–73 |
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| MAWLAY MUHAMMAD IV. Under his rule central authority remained weak despite limited attempts to modernize the army, administration, and economy. Tribal defiance continued to pose a challenge to the state, and European economic penetration increased. | 6 |
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| 1859–60 |
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| WAR WITH SPAIN. As part of its policy of expansion in Morocco, Spain sent a large force to its outpost in Ceuta, from which it advanced all the way to Tetuán. The town fell on Feb. 5, 1860, and remained in Spanish hands for two years. Mawlay Muhammad agreed to pay a large indemnity and signed a peace treaty that allowed Spain to expand around Melilla and thus add to its territories at Ceuta and Peñon de Velez. | 7 |
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| 1862 |
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| Foundation of a school for Jewish boys in Tetuán by the Alliance Israélite Universelle (founded in Paris in 1860). This Alliance school, the first in North Africa and the Middle East, became the model for similar schools in Tangier (1864), Mogador (1863 and 1868), and Safi (1867). The schools' curriculum combined religious and modern instruction in French and Hebrew as well as Arabic, helping the Jewish population (about 100,000) to develop cadres of westernized leaders. | 8 |
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| 1863, Aug. 19 |
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| Agreement with France regarding the status of Moroccan subjects under French protection. These protégés, who worked in the employ of French diplomats and merchants, escaped taxation, military service, and the local justice system. The agreement, to which other powers later adhered, formalized the protégé system for the first time and ended up stimulating rather than checking the growth of foreign protection in the country. An international convention drawn in Madrid (July 3, 1880) dealt with the system of native protection and gave a host of European states a voice in the issue. The internationalizing of the problem later complicated the expansionist efforts of France and Spain in Morocco. | 9 |
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| 1865, June 16 |
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| Publication of the first book printed in Morocco, under the auspices of the royal press. The press, as well as skilled technicians, were imported from the Ottoman Empire. The press became part of the Qarawiyyin religious college and issued mostly religious texts for use in the school. | 10 |
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| 1873–94 |
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| MAWLAY AL-HASAN I. An able ruler, al-Hasan attempted to reform the army. He imposed a fixed levy of recruits on major cities and formed new regiments trained by European instructors. | 11 |
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| 1881 |
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| Currency reform. Mawlay al-Hasan struck new silver coins in an attempt to standardize the currency in circulation and halt the continuous depreciation of the coinage. European merchants smuggled the new coins out, draining the country of silver and destabilizing its monetary system. By 1900, Moroccan currency had depreciated on the international market by some 140 percent. | 12 |
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